Tanzania coach Adel Amrouche has been banned for eight matches after making insulting remarks about Morocco, a Confederation of African Football (CAF) official told AFP on Friday.
“I can confirm that the coach of Tanzania (Adel Amrouche) has been suspended for eight matches after comments he made about Moroccan officials in a TV interview,” said the official.
The suspension by the CAF disciplinary committee rules the Algeria-born coach out of the rest of the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in the Ivory Coast.
Group F outsiders Tanzania lost 3-0 to Morocco on Wednesday and play Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo in their other mini-league fixtures.
“The Morocco federation is a proven power in the world of African football. Morocco manages African football,” Amrouche said in an Algerian TV interview before the Cup of Nations.
He claimed Moroccan officials within CAF decide who referees matches involving the senior men’s national team, and at what time they kick off.
“We wanted to play a World Cup qualifier against Morocco last November in the afternoon, but CAF scheduled the match for the evening,” Amrouche said.
The coach believed an afternoon kick-off in the sweltering heat of Dar es Salaam would favour Tanzania as many of the Moroccan players would be coming from clubs in generally cold Europe.
Before being hired by Tanzania last year, the 55-year-old coached Equatorial Guinea, Burundi, Kenya, Libya and Botswana and clubs in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Algeria.